by CJ Lyons
Morgan caught the movement and turned back to the pit. "Are we boring you?" she said with a sneer. "Here's something to keep you busy."
She flicked the lighter, used it to set flame to a rag she stuffed into the mouth of the fuel can, and flung it into the pit.
<><><>
Clint threw a knife down between Adam and Lucy. "Three minutes," he said, making a show of looking at his watch. "Go."
At first both Lucy and Adam froze, their gazes locked.
Clint nodded to Morgan who flicked her lighter. "She'll do it. I'll give you to the count of three. Three—two—"
Adam lunged forward, knocking Lucy to the ground. He grabbed the knife. She was dragged across the harsh limestone by the chain connecting them. She couldn't let him get the upper hand. She had plans for that knife. Plans that included Clint.
Just as he turned to pounce on her, she kicked his leg out from under him, tripping him to the ground. She rolled, scrambling to get on top of him and pin his knife hand. They were face to face, their breath clouding the chilly air between them, when he whispered, "Trust me."
Morgan said something Lucy couldn't hear over the roaring in her brain. But she saw the flaming fuel can fly past her into the pit.
No choice. No time. She nodded to Adam, let him take the lead. Prayed her instincts hadn't condemned her.
<><><>
Adam feinted with the knife, almost sliced Lucy's cheek—just close enough to make it look good as he tumbled them both to the ground again. Lucy didn't need to be told to kick the ladder into the pit.
To mask her movement, she punched Adam in the face, pulling it at the last minute and rolled her weight, sending them both over again, towards Clint. He ended up on top and sat up, reaching back, jerking his chin to signal Lucy. She kneed him in the thigh, just missing his groin.
He leapt up, hauling her halfway to her feet with the chain. Clint was only a few feet away, standing in the shadows, his back to the stalagmite formation with a two foot furrow at its base where Adam once found shards of clay pots. Not enough of a drop to kill him, but enough to give Adam and Lucy a chance.
Adam raised the knife, aiming a killing blow at Lucy as she rose to her feet. "Now!"
Lucy pivoted in unison with him and together they rushed Clint. The gun went off, the noise combining with the screams of the kids in the pit.
Chapter 36
Morgan watched as the flames danced merrily. There was even a tiny fireball when the fumes exploded. Not much of a blast, only a little whoosh of sound, but it made the kids scream in terror. She clapped her hands and hoped for another fireball, but there was more smoke than flames.
The ladder clattered into the pit. She glanced up, angry that Lucy and Adam were trying to spoil her fun. She watched them grapple and realized they were working together. Clint didn't even notice. He leaned forward, the gun slack in his hand, tongue darting out to lick his lips. Oh yeah, she knew that look. Like he was in a trance, anticipating the fun yet to come.
Adam and Lucy rushed Clint. The gun fired, the bullet ricocheting and sparking overhead. They pushed Clint over a small outcropping. He went down hard. He hit his head on a rock formation, then Lucy and Adam used their chain to throttle him.
Easy to see what came next. And it wouldn't be any fun.
Smoke billowed over the top of the pit. Morgan took advantage of the cover to slip away.
After all, there were other fish in the sea. Just waiting for her.
<><><>
The ladder hit Jenna on the head. She set it upright, almost losing it when a pouf of fire ignited just above the pile of fuel-soaked material on the other side of the pit. Then the flames began in earnest, creating waves of black, oily smoke.
"Up the ladder," she told the kids.
Sally scrambled up, not even looking back for her stuffed cat. Darrin stood there, gaping at the flames and smoke coming at them like a tidal wave.
"Now!" She yanked him by the arm, set his hand on the rung.
"What about Marty?"
"Don't worry. Just go."
Still he hesitated. Jenna pushed him half way up, but he froze again, looking down at his friend. She scrambled up the ladder, forcing him to the top and over the edge. As soon as she cleared the top Adam climbed over her to head down. The smoke roiled over the edge of the pit, choking her vision. But she saw Morgan run past, escaping.
No way. No way in hell.
Jenna pulled her gun and followed.
<><><>
Lucy and Adam held Clint pinned down while Lucy used her free hand to search his pockets. She found the handcuff key, uncuffed them, then cuffed Clint instead.
"The kids," Adam breathed as soon as he was free and vanished into the smoke.
A moment later Darrin and Sally appeared, holding hands, looking frightened but unharmed. "Marty," Darrin gasped. "He's still down there."
"Don't worry. We'll get him."
Before Lucy could move Jenna crashed past her, gun aimed at Morgan's fleeing form. The girl's back disappeared through the entrance to the outer passage.
"Jenna, no." Lucy lay her hand over Jenna's arm, forcing her gun down.
"But she's getting away." Jenna pushed Lucy away and aimed once more.
Lucy wrenched the Glock from Jenna's grasp. "She's a thirteen-year-old kid. You going to shoot her in the back?"
Morgan's laughter filled the air as she vanished from sight.
"She's no kid," Jenna muttered. "She's a monster."
"Yeah," Lucy agreed. "But you aren't."
<><><>
Adam's eyes teared with smoke. There weren't a lot of flames, but the ones that blazed through the thick, oily smoke had found the wooden ladder. They sparked over its surface, hungry for more.
Marty's cry for help was choked short by a coughing spasm. Adam couldn't even see the boy, but that was okay. He didn't need to see, he could find his way around the pit blindfolded.
He pulled his sleeves down over his hands to protect them from the flames snaking around the ladder's rungs. No structural damage yet as they danced along the surface of the old, dry wood, but it wouldn't last long.
Smoke curled around him, wrapping him in black. He was surprised when his feet hit the ground sooner than he expected.
"Marty," he shouted. Just the one word and he was gasping for air, the thick smoke impossible to choke down. He ended up on his knees. Marty should be right here, if his sense of direction was—got him. He grabbed the boy's shirt and pulled Marty to him. The boy barely flinched even though Adam knew the movement had to hurt his broken leg. But there was no time to waste.
"Adam!" Lucy's voice came from above. "Hurry!"
He retraced his steps, totally blinded. The bottom rung of the ladder was burnt through but the second and third looked only charred. Hefting Marty over one shoulder, the mountain pie makers clanging against his side, he reached for the ladder. Heat scorched his palms but he hauled himself up the first rung. His foot broke through and he almost dropped Marty as a coughing attack overtook him.
No way. He wasn't going to let Marty die. It was his fault the kids were down here in the first place. He had to save them.
He hauled in a breath, his throat filling with bile, trying to expel the noxious air. Reaching as high as he could, he pulled himself up to the third rung, then as quick as possible the fourth. Now he was high enough the flames found him, jumping onto his sleeve as he climbed. He couldn't stop to put them out, so he clenched his jaw and forced his legs to push harder, his arms to pull faster.
Then someone lifted Marty's weight from him. He sagged against the ladder, so close to the top but without any strength left to make it over. That was okay, a voice cut through the fog in his brain. You saved them. It's okay to let go.
His fingers relaxed their grip and the ladder began to sway back away from the wall. Then it bumped forward and Lucy grabbed him, hauling him up and over the edge of the cliff to safety.
He lay there coughing, vision choked with re
d. He rolled over and vomited. Then everything went black.
Chapter 37
Adam sat at the table in the small room. It smelled of sweaty socks, just like the juvenile detention facility, but there was also an undercurrent of something else. Something sweet and bitter, acrid and damp, that permeated the cinder blocks. Fear.
The heavy metal door opened, allowing the sounds of the men beyond to escape into the room. They didn't sound like men but like wild beasts foraging, grunting, sniffling as fresh prey passed by.
One guard held the door open while another escorted his father inside. Clint shuffled. The chains cobbling his ankles extended up to a wide leather belt where they joined to the handcuffs around his wrists. The first guard watched as the second undid the handcuffs, positioned him in the chair, then reattached the chain running between the handcuffs to a ring on the table. Their movements were quick and efficient. All done without eye contact or words, as if his father wasn't even human.
Throughout it all Clint rolled his eyes and made faces at Adam. Like this was some kind of game. He didn't even notice it was exactly the same kind of game he played on those women. Controlling them. Positioning their bodies. Chaining them in place.
A strange calm descended over Adam, easing the flutter of panic he'd felt when he first sat down. He wasn't his father. He wasn't anything like him.
The guards turned to leave, one of them stopping to put a hand on Adam's shoulder. "You need anything, you just hit that button." He pointed to a doorbell button fastened to Adam's side of the table. "We'll be watching. Okay?"
Adam nodded. "I'm fine."
The guards left. The door closed and silence descended on the room. Adam sat up. Realized all that time hunched over, trying to make himself small, he'd never noticed that he'd grown taller than his father.
The chains rattled as Clint leaned forward and talked in hushed tones. "I'm glad you came to your senses, boy. I've got it all figured out. See, they have no bodies. No proof anyone was even killed. So, poof, no murder charges."
Adam cringed and drew away from the fetid odor of rotting fish that colored Clint's breath.
Clint leaned closer, bouncing with excitement. "And those women? Their word against mine it wasn't consensual. You know David Parker Ray, the guy who almost got away with that stuff in New Mexico? Same deal as me. Only they even had an actual video of him having fun with a fish. Slicing and dicing and electrocuting her and everything, right there on film. Plus, he let her live, so she actually testified in person. Even with all that, it was a hung jury and they let him go. I'm gonna see if I can get his lawyer. I figure if he can do that for Ray, my case should be a walk in the park.
"So, here's the plan. All you have to do is exactly what you always do: stay quiet and act dumb. You didn't see anything, you didn't hear anything."
Clint reached across the table. The chains felt cold when he covered Adam's hand with his own and squeezed. "There's nothing to be afraid of. Just don't say a word and everything will be fine. I'll be out of here before you know it. It'll just be you and me, kid. Like it was meant to be."
His smile was blindingly wide. The smile Adam had been waiting for all his life. But all Adam could focus on was the piece of meat stuck between Clint's upper teeth, dangling, flicking up and down as Clint licked his lips and refreshed his smile.
"What's wrong, son? This is no time to have second thoughts. I need you to be a man. Make me proud. I know you can do it."
Adam finally found the courage to ask the question he came here to ask. "What about Mom?"
"Mom? What's she got to do with anything?"
"You never even asked how she died. What happened in that cave. Is that because you told her what to do?"
"Did I—" He pulled away, slouched back in his chair, his dark eyes squinting at Adam, assessing, plotting. Like Adam was a fish. "Your mom was a brave woman. Smart. I didn't have to tell her what to do to protect the family. She figured it out all on her own."
"She killed that man. Killed herself. Just to save you."
"She was dying anyway. Doctor said maybe a month or less. She knew we pushed things too far in New Hope. Problem with your hometown, everyone remembers everything, like who you asked to the prom and got turned down, or who tormented you in the locker room. Small stuff, but if anyone put things together, we were sunk. Lucky I decided to keep that Penn State student alive long enough to frame him. Your mother's idea, by the way. Good thing, too. He was there, drugged out of his mind, so your mom could use him as a fall guy. Literally."
He chuckled and the sound made Adam's skin shiver. "Guess she figured it would sell better if she went with him. Like I said, she was smart. Smartest fish I ever got."
Adam jerked up straight, halfway out of his chair. "She was no fish."
"She never told you?" Defiance glittered from his eyes. "Before her, they were all hit and run jobs. She was so sweet, special somehow. I kept her longer. Took her away instead of finishing the job. Oh the things we did. And she loved every minute. Begged for it. She needed me. To tell her what to do, how to think. She wouldn't blink without my permission. Best fish I ever had."
He sighed. "It was good while it lasted. So don't you let her down. You do as you're told. Stay quiet. And everything will be fine. I'll be out before you know it. Things will go back to the way they always were."
Adam shook his head. "No."
"What do you mean, no? I own you, boy. You're just as much a part of this as I am. Don't you forget that."
"No."
The chains stretched as he raised a hand to slap Adam. Before it could make it halfway, Adam caught it, twisted his thumb back, and shoved it away. As if Clint was weak. Powerless.
The word felt right. Adam pressed the button to call the guards. He pushed his chair back and stood, towering over his father.
"Don't do this, son! You'll regret it. I have friends in here, powerful friends. You're going to jail, too, and I'll make your life a living hell." Saliva speckled the tabletop as Clint ranted, enraged by Adam's rebellion. "You'll be back, begging me to protect you. But I won't, I won't, because you're a fish like all the rest. Worthless, no good—"
The guards came, one pressing Clint's face down hard into the table, keeping pressure on the back of his neck so he couldn't resist.
"You done here, son?" the other guard asked Adam.
"I'm done."
They escorted Adam back outside to where Lucy waited. She'd arranged this final visit before he went into supervised custody. They made him stay in juvie until the psych eval was done, but after, the judge said he could have an ankle monitor and stay in a foster home.
Mrs. Chesshir, his old teacher had volunteered—which surprised Adam. He didn't think anyone in New Hope would want him anywhere near their home, not after what he did. Figured he'd stay in juvie for the duration. Even thought maybe that was better for everyone.
He didn't want to hurt anyone ever again. Didn't want to end up like his father. Or Morgan.
"Amanda's waiting," Lucy said as they walked out to her car. He was still getting used to the idea of calling Mrs. Chesshir by her first name. "Said the monitoring folks will be there by ten."
They passed an area with picnic tables. For families waiting to visit—or maybe the guards ate out here when the weather was nice. He stopped. "I need to tell you something."
She looked at him, nodded slowly. He used his sleeve to wipe a spot at a table clean for her, then took a seat on the other side. He wasn't sure he could face her when he told her his secret, but he knew he should try.
"What is it, Adam? Did your father upset you?"
"No. He wanted me to not say anything, but I don't care. I want to tell you and the judge and everyone everything. It's the least I can do if it helps those families. I can't take you to any bodies, my dad always took care of them, but maybe I can help you figure out who they were. And what happened to them."
She covered his hand with hers. "That's very brave of you."
He shrugged with one shoulder. "Least I can do. Try to make up for," he jerked his chin at the red brick jail behind them, "what he did. I know I was just a kid, but I should've known better."
"You never had a chance to know better. They raised you to be a part of it your entire life. There's no way a kid could have fought against everything he'd ever known."
"But I'm not a kid anymore." He sucked in his breath. The cold felt sharp, scratchy against his throat. "I need to be a man and own up to what I did. Everything I did. Including what happened in the cave four years ago."
"I know your mom set that up. She faked the carjacking and told you to lead us there, didn't she? She wanted to give your dad an alibi." She paused. "Who was the man? Was it Rachel's boyfriend?"
"How'd you know?"
"He was a geology major. Into caving."
"He just showed up one day when Mom was feeding the fish. She hit him on the head and had me help her drag him to one of the back chambers. Dad said he kept him alive so he could frame him when Dad was ready to leave New Hope."
"But then Rachel came looking for him."
"Rachel." He sighed, his breath emerging in a puff of steam quickly whisked away by the breeze. "She was too much for Dad to resist. Kept saying how defiant she was, all her praying and faith in God. Mom wanted him to leave, take me. Let her clean up after him, but he refused. Said he wouldn't leave New Hope until he broke Rachel. Showed her what God really was, who was in charge."
They were both silent for a long moment. "I guess Rachel won in the long run," Lucy said. "If it wasn't for her and you, we never would have caught him." She rubbed her finger against the tabletop, tracing letters in the moisture left behind by the melted snow. "Did she mean to kill herself or was that an accident? Your mom."
"She was dying. Her cancer was back. I guess it was one last way for her to show how much she loved him." He swallowed hard against the knot in his throat. Not from thinking about Mom, but thinking about what else had happened that day. "But…" This was the hard part. The part he never told anyone. "I'm the one who stabbed you."